Tuesday, June 26, 2018

A letter to Taylor Jenkins Reid

Dear Taylor,

A year ago, I didn't know who you were. A couple of your book covers were vaguely familiar, but I hadn't read any of them. In July 2017, I read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, and I fell in love, with Evelyn and with your writing. It's a book I've recommended to many, many people over the last year, and they all report back how much they love it too. It was my favorite book of 2017. It's a book that made me want to read our backlist in order. I devoured Forever, Interrupted and After I Do in fall 2017 (they both made my top 10 fiction reads of 2017), and then I made myself slow down because I didn't want to live in a world where I didn't have more of your books to read. Instead I enjoyed following you on Instagram and Twitter. I read books you recommended and was recently thrilled to discover how much we both love The Bold Type.

When I saw you were speaking at the American Library Association conference, I was ecstatic. Your speech was so much life your novels. I laughed (a lot.) I cried. And I frantically tried to write down a few quotes. I fear I didn't capture this one exactly as you said it, but it perfectly sums up why I love your books so much: "I like writing about the difference of public perception and what it's really like." I'm fascinated by that too; it's what makes me the reader I am.

Every year at ALA, there's one book I'm most excited about or one author I'm most excited to meet. This year, it was you and your so-far-away-it-hasn't-even-really announced new novel, Daisy Jones & The Six. (Note: it is available for pre-order. It published March 5, 2019.) Obviously, this year it was you. When I introduced myself, I couldn't believe you recognized nomadreader and jumped up to hug me. Thank you for your books, and thank you for your joy at meeting readers.

Part of me wanted to wait to read Daisy so I can savor it, but I already started it. It's a good thing I still have two more of your backlist titles to read when I'm done.

With much love from one of your biggest fans,
Nomadreader

P.S. Readers, if you haven't read The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, it's out in paperback with a gorgeous cover.:

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